Tonight at the store a special order came in by an author named Patrick Taylor who was described on the cover this way: "Patrick Taylor has become probably the most popular Irish-Canadian writer of all time."
This raised all kinds of interesting questions--like, how many Irish-Canadian writers are there? Are Irish-Canadian writers a thing? And exactly what does "of all time" mean? Who's been keeping track?
And that word "probably"? This guy is only "probably" the most popular Irish-Canadian writer of all time?
Turns out there's an art to blurbing a book . . .
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I meant to reply to this--that 'probably' is hilarious to me. What is it supposed to be doing there? Is it supposed to be a wink, a wry 'I'm understating because you know that Patrick Taylor is THE MAN'? or something? But it also reminds me that all over England and Ireland and Scotland, I see this same locution--'Probably the best pub in Scotland.' 'Probably the best place to watch Saturday's football match.' I'm thinking, is it so hard or wrong to just say, 'We're the best!'? Is that 'probably' code for 'we're not boorish Americans'? I totally think it is. Well, this is WITHOUT DOUBT the blog that has allowed me to think through this logically, and for that, I say it is THE BEST.
Please write the blurb for my future book. Or maybe I should be asking Patrick.
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